Viewing sporting events on television has become very popular, as the average spectator can view a game or competition in the comfort of her home, and due to modem technology, can also benefit from high quality sound and images. Thus, due to today's modem equipment, e.g., high resolution large screen TVs equipped with a surround audio system, the excitement and sensation of a sports competition can be brought into the viewer's home, as if she actually attended the event as a spectator.
Needless to say, viewing at home obviates the long trip to the stadium, as well as waiting in line to purchase tickets, and obviously the inconvenience of having to withstand prevailing temperatures when an event takes place during cold or hot weather conditions.
Bearing all this in mind, and considering also the popularity of some of the sports such as soccer, it is no surprise that the common estimate is that nearly two billion people viewed the televised Mondial 2002 Tournament that took place in Japan and South Korea.
Modem TV technology, in particular digital TV broadcasting, enables not only to view in high quality a particular sporting event, but also to apply numerous functions to the so-viewed events such as replays, freezing a frame of interest and providing instantaneous statistics on the screen that relate to an ongoing action using, e.g., interactive commands activated by means of the television remote control. With the introduction of improved technologies, both at the broadcasting end as well as in the television receiving unit, more and more options are constantly being introduced to further enhance the viewer's enjoyment from the viewed sporting event.
The wide range of options discussed above, still do not cope with a typical scenario which, in many cases, causes frustration to the common viewer. Consider for example (with reference to FIG. 1), a soccer match is being shown on the viewer's TV screen (10), which has started at say, 19:00, and the viewer turns on her television set and 19:10, and notices from the score indication (11) that the score is one-nil in team B's favor. This obviously means that team B managed to score a goal during the first ten minutes of the game missed by the viewer.
Assuming also that the viewer cannot identify from the football players' uniforms which is team B, i.e., in the example of FIG. 1, it is not clear whether the team with the uniform consisting of black shorts and striped shirts (12) is the leading team (i.e. the team defending the left side of the football court (12′) and attacking to the right side of the football court (13′)), or whether the team with the uniform consisting of white shorts and checkered shirts (13) is the leading team (i.e. the team defending the right side of the football court (13′) and attacking to the left side of the football court (12′)). This, obviously, causes a lot of frustration to the viewer who is naturally interested in knowing who the leading team is. In some cases, it may take several minutes, or even longer, until the viewer actually becomes aware of the scores of each respective team. For example, the viewer may only become aware of the score of the game after the commentator provides information as to which side is the leading side, or, for another example, when one of the teams scores another goal, and in response, the score indication (11) is updated on the screen, enabling the viewer to see the latest score and become aware of which team was leading until the latest goal. Whereas the example of FIG. 1 refers to a scenario where one team leads, the need to identify the participating teams obviously arises also in the case of draw, say 0:0, since the viewer naturally wants to identify which team is team A and which team is team B.
In other sports, such as basketball, the score is updated more frequently. However, still, the common viewer would like to know on the spot upon turning on her TV receiver, who is currently winning. It is true that in many cases the viewer is familiar with the uniforms of both teams (e.g., when her favorite team is participating) or the players themselves, and therefore can identify on the spot, without any additional assistance, who is the leading team, (e.g., in the case of FIG. 1, she is well familiar with the uniform of Team B/A and/or with the players), and as she turns on the TV, she will know who is leading. However, in many cases this is not true. For example, even for her favorite team, it may well be the case, that for a particular match, uniforms were changed, or, for example, the viewer is watching a soccer game between two teams with whom the viewer is familiar, however, not to the extent that she can readily identify the team by their uniform.
PCT WO 2004/015991 provides for a method for viewing a televised event. The televised event includes a few competing parties wherein each party has a uniform that is visually distinguished in respect of the uniform of any other party of the other parties. The televised event includes a score indication with score portion for each party. The method includes receiving a processed televised event for display on a display device. The score indication portions are colored so as to facilitate visual association of each score indication portion to a respective party according to the color of the uniform of the party.
There is accordingly a need in the art to facilitating new immediate means of identifying which from among the two teams is the losing one and the winning one.